Science Fiction Sound Effects Record (Folkways Records, 1958)

 

Here is a gem that I didn't know existed.  I stumbled onto it while buying something else on Discogs (I always look through the seller's store to see what else they have; it saves shipping anyroad).  These are not your cheesy or ordinary, run-of-the-mill space sound effects that would later become more common...these are OG, hard-core jewels of newborn electronica, hearkening back to roomfuls of oscillators, filters, and endless dials below shining screens.  In other words, made the old-fashioned way!

Whether you admire the Radiophonic Workshop, the electronic soundtrack to FORBIDDEN PLANET, or even if you just love electronic sounds, this is for you.  

A few points of interest:

1) Interestingly, the track numbering just continues onto the second side, even continuing the track where side A left off.

2) At the start of side A, you may think nothing is happening at first, but then something becomes apparent, slowly, and from far away, and then, when you least expect it...WHAM! The "approaching missile or creature" hits you with an impact that has texture, which I figure must've involved the strings of a piano somehow (think Jango Fett's torpedoes in Episode II). I was hooked after this opening track.

3) The last track on side B--seemingly--ends in a locked groove.  At least, I think it does.  There were no issues at all with my copy otherwise, and I'd be shocked to think there was a skip right at the very extreme end of the last seconds of the last track...maybe the makers were having a little joke.  I can't find any verification online, but that's what I believe is happening!

4) I would love to hear an audio adventure made using these tracks.  Whereas later sound effects collections would focus more on short sounds (like laser guns), this one does a very good job supplying background, ambient, environmental sounds of what it would sound like both inside and outside of a spaceship.  

Enjoy! I am sure you will.

SCIENCE FICTION SOUND EFFECTS (1958)